Hi pharmacists,

  I received this e-mail which seems to be making the rounds of lists all
around the U.S. I think it's a load of crap. Just thought I'd let you guys know
the sort of propaganda that's being passed around regarding your profession. I
am thinking that this may have its origins in 2 sources, but don't have any way
to verify either one. Your thoughts?

.WHAT DO DRUGS COST??
Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active ingredient
in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many
drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical
synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the
FDA.

As we have revealed in past issues of Life Extension, a significant percentage
of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other
countries. In our independent investigation of how much profit drug companies
really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some of
the most popular drugs sold in America. The chart below speaks for itself.

BRAND NAME-CONSUMER PRICE (100 TABS)-ACTIVE INGREDIENTS COST-% of MARK-UP:

Celebrex        100 mg           $  130.27              $0.60              
21,712%    
Claritin            10 mg           $  215.17              $0.71              
30,306%  
Keflex           250 mg           $  157.39             $1.88                
8,372%    
Lipitor              20 mg           $  272.37             $5.80              
4,696%  
Norvasc           10 mg           $  188.29              $0.14              
134,493%  
Paxil               20 mg            $  220.27             $7.60              
 2,898%    
Prevacid          30 mg            $   44.77              $1.01              
34,136%    
Prilosec           20 mg            $  360.97             $0.52            
69,417%    
Prozac            20 mg            $  247.47              $0.11            
224,973%
Tenormin        50 mg            $  104.47              $0.13              
80,362%  
Vasotec          10 mg            $  102.37             $0.20              
51,185%    
Xanax                1mg            $  136.79              $0.024          
569,958%  
Zestril            20 mg             $     89.89            $3.20              
 2,809%  
Zithromax      600 mg             $1,482.19            $18.78              
7,892%
Zocor             40  mg             $  350.27            $8.63                
4,059%    
Zoloft             50  mg             $  206.87             $1.75              
11,821%
*****
Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought everyone I
knew should know about this. Please read the following and pass it on. It pays
to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why they can afford to
put a Walgreen's on every corner..................

On Monday night, Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for channel 7 News in
Detroit, did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies. He found in
his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were marked up as much as
3,000% or more. Yes, that's not a typo..... three thousand percent!

So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of drugs, and usually
rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly lies with the pharmacies
themselves. For example, if you had to buy a prescription drug, and bought the
name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills. The pharmacist might tell you
that if you get the generic equivalent, they would only cost $80, making you
think you are "saving" $20. What the pharmacist is not telling you is that
those 100 generic pills may have only cost him $10!

At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or not
there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice, and he said
that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for the generic drugs.
I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its online
price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the online prices.
I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to
use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients. I used
the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for 60 pills at CVS. I checked the
price at Costco, and I could have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my
pain pills, I paid $72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08.I would
like to mention, that although Costco is a "membership" type store, you do NOT
have to be a member to buy prescriptions there, as they are selling a federally
regulated substance. However, inlieu of a Costco card - with which to gain
entry into the store - you just tell them at the door that you wish to use the
pharmacy, and they will let you in. I am asking each of you to please help me
by copying this letter, and pasting it into your own email, and send it to
everyone you know with an email address.